Ordering issues

[deanparkr]

Hi

Has anyone placed on order with PCS today? I tried ordering a Nova laptop today but the payment was declined. I tried again and it was declined a second time. I checked with my bank and the transactions were authorised and have left my "available balance" leaving me down £4k.

Spoke to PCS on live chat who said they would look into it within an hour but since an hour has past no comms. Been trying to call them for over an hour now and no answer.

Wonder if there are tech issues at PCS or something? Wondered if anyone else had any trouble?

 

[deanparkr]

Yeah - I figured I would post and see if this happened to someone else. I finally got through to PCS who said there as some issue with Visa at the time of my order.

Problem is they cant help remove the pending transaction. I contacted my bank who said it was PCS responsibility to do so and bank wont get involved unless it was fraud. Now I am looking at 7 days for transaction to clear as neither PCS nor bank will clear it.

I'm trying to phone PCS again to try once more but otherwise now I need to apply for a whole new credit card as this has eliminated all available credit and because neither PCS nor Bank will cancel it, I have to wait the full amount of time to expire.

I feel like I am getting a bad service here but I am not sure who is supposed to be able to help and if this is PCS or bank issue as they blame each other.

 

[ubuysa]

It may well be that the issue is with the Visa network, in which case neither PCS nor your bank are to blame for the issue.

I suspect from what PCS told you that this is a Visa problem. Have a look for the phone number of your bank's Visa card services department and see whether they can help.

 

[deanparkr]

I did speak to Visa a short while ago. They weren't able to help very much as they said I need to talk about issues with my card issuer. They did say they werent aware of any issues, and I dont see any issues on the internet either. I do feel like if there were Visa issues then it would be more publicised... surely a major problem. I assume it is not a Visa issue but more likely an issue with PCS payment provider and Visa.

They did clarify that authorisation holds are the responsibility of the merchant and that merchant should be able to cancel them.

Raised escalation with PCS and am awaiting call back. I do understand it is a complicated / unusual issue but wish they would support me a bit more in getting it resolved.

Gah. I am frustrated as I have time off work and was planning to make a few house purchases also that is now not possible until this is resolved

 

[Grumpywurzel]

If it's anything like the issues I had with Argos, it sounds like a glitch in the system, it will be a "Ghost Transaction". No one is really at fault and it is an issue for your bank/VISA

Goes along the lines of this- PCS try to charge your account for £X, the glitch appears and the payment is declined, however your bank has authorised it and the money is moved from your account into a holding area for PCS to draw down on. However as far as PCS are concerned, the card was declined and therefore they wont/can't attempt to take the money and everything is left in limbo. The money isnt lost and your bank will realise that the money hasnt been taken, the snag is it "may" take up to 3-5 days for the system to return the money to you.

 

[deanparkr]

That sounds about right. Its this snag of getting it released that is the problem. My card issuer says it will take 7 days unless merchant clears it.

Surely someone, somewhere knows how to do it. I guess what I want from PCS is to take issue up with their payment provider to get the hold removed. Or pushed through. My card issuer has authorised so it seems to me it should be possible for PCS payment supplier to draw down on these authorised funds.

This of course is now delaying the build of machine as PCS not starting until payment received of course. I was advised by my card issuer I could pursue a misuse of authorisation hold against PCS but I dont want to do that, because I still want to order and do business with PCS.

There are options on how to deal with these issues from mis-use / fraud perspective but no options on how to sensibly sort this issue when parties actually do want to do business!

Gah!

I know I am using this forum purely to vent - so I apologise also for that!

 

[Grumpywurzel]

I really hate to blame COVID, but it hasn't helped at all but every man and his left flip flop is buying stuff online atm and clearly things are creaking in the dusty bank/VISA halls. PCS cannot take payment as it has been declined (as it's illegal to do so!). I had this very same argument with Argos when it happened to me, literally felt like climbing down the phone and wringing their necks!

The only choice you have is either waiting or to annoy the bejesus out of your bank/card issuer, at the end of the day the funds havent actually left your bank

 

[deanparkr]

It has interrupted my plans so much I have been investing alot of energy today researching this type of issue.

Fingers seem to be pointing in PCS direction from Visa and bank that they are responsible for dealing with the hold issue. They were supposed to call me back but I see they havnt. So thats disappointing

I feel like PCS havnt made as much effort to help as I would of liked. There is no indication they have tried to do anything to help the situation. Maybe they have but I am not getting comms. I am a customer acting in good faith and feel like they should be mostly responsible for issues on their payment system. So far I have only been told that "accounts cant do anything". Instead I feel that better customer service would be response more like "we are trying to speak to our provider to find out options". Rather than what I feel like is a bit sloppy shoulders.

I just expected a bit more from them. £4k hold is alot of money... :/

Edit: Just a note that I appreciate everyones replies on this .

 

[ubuysa]

I'm a cynic, but it's clear that no bank nor card issuer is ever going to admit that their systems had glitches. They're terrified of the loss of confidence/business if they do. Blaming the merchant is the easy and obvious thing to do.

 

[Grumpywurzel]

It has interrupted my plans so much I have been investing alot of energy today researching this type of issue.

Fingers seem to be pointing in PCS direction from Visa and bank that they are responsible for dealing with the hold issue. They were supposed to call me back but I see they havnt. So thats disappointing

I feel like PCS havnt made as much effort to help as I would of liked. There is no indication they have tried to do anything to help the situation. Maybe they have but I am not getting comms. I am a customer acting in good faith and feel like they should be mostly responsible for issues on their payment system. So far I have only been told that "accounts cant do anything". Instead I feel that better customer service would be response more like "we are trying to speak to our provider to find out options". Rather than what I feel like is a bit sloppy shoulders.

I just expected a bit more from them. £4k hold is alot of money... :/

Edit: Just a note that I appreciate everyones replies on this .

I'm not defending anyone, from PCS's POV the payment was declined (in error) so for me that indicates a card fault. As i said I was in the same boat as you with Argos and no one was taking the blame. Luckily they couldnt deliver the laptop I wanted anyway hence why my fat bottom is here

 

[davy]

I had this issue with a large purchase, payment was declined but the”available funds” were missing, nothing either the bank nor the merchant could do, they re appeared a few days later.